Monday, April 08, 2013

Given the critical importance of land to native Fijians, I thought I will include these pieces posted by Navosavakadua on the FijiToday Blog.
It should be thought-provoking to all Fijians in the current political
climate as the Bainimarama Dictatorship forces its draft constitution on
the people of Fiji.

What a juvenile smart aleckby navosavakadua

How stupid does Aiyaz Sayed-Khaiyum think we all are?
He’s claiming that the ‘conversion’ of 68.7 hectares of native land to
Crown grant land under the Qarase Government proves that there never was
any protection for Native land entrenched in past constitutions.He knows that there’s always been a provision for the swapping of
Native land for Crown land so that essential infrastructure could be
provided.

His STATE LANDS (AMENDMENT) DECREE 2013 (DECREE NO. 7 OF 2013)
deals with this issue, putting an end to this small degree of
flexibility in Native land legislation. He claimed this was to protect
Native land, but it was never more than an attempt to spread the lie
that he was all for protecting Native land. As things stand,
Bainimarama’s 2010 Land Use Decree gives him the right as PM to approve
99 years leases under whatever terms and conditions he likes on any
native land. He can’t take ownership without proper compensation, but
giving 99 year leases with low rents is no different from seizing the
land. It will take 4 generations for land to be recovered by its owners.
Under all previous constitutions, the Bainimarama Land Use Decree 2010
would be unconstitutional but the Land Use Decree says “This Decree has
effect notwithstanding any provision of the Native Land Trust Act [Cap.
134], Agricultural Landlord and Tenant Act [Cap. 270], Agricultural
Landlord and Tenant Ordinance 1966 and any other law”. It over-rides
every other law of the land. As with all ASK decrees there is
specific provision that “any decision of any Minister or any State
official or body, made under this Decree” cannot be challenged in a
“court, tribunal, commission” etc etc. If Sayed-Khaiyum thinks
all this bunkum about land swaps means that we’ll think no protections
have been removed he must take us for fools. This smart-alecky school boy debating shows how out of touch he is with reality.

Land Use Decree plus Constitution equals land power grab by Bainimaramaby navosavakadua

Understanding
of the implications of the Bainimarama constitution’s abolition of all
protection for Native land is slowly spreading.

A
storm has blown up on the Fiji Democracy Now blogsite on the issue of
whether the Qarase Government broke the law with the swap of Native Land
for freehold land in the Momi Bay development. It seems two things are
being confused here. (For a legal analysis and more evidence on how the Bainimarama Dictatorship lied about this transaction log on:FijiLeaks.com)1. Was the law broken to effect a swap of native land for freehold?2. Did the landowners get a fair deal?

On
the first issue, it’s clear the law was NOT broken. For starters, if
the law had been broken, Sayed-Khaiyum would have jumped at the
opportunity to take the Qarase Government before his hand-picked court.
Perhaps, the fact that Qarase relied on legal advice might have
complicated matters, but make no mistake the opportunity to expose even
an innocent mistake would not have been missed.

Without being
privy to the details, it seems to me the process was to make an indirect
swap. Freehold land was acquired by the State and, under Section 4 of
the Crown Lands Act, it is Crown land, and hence capable of being
swapped under Section 3. The proof of this comes from none other than
Sayed-Khaiyum when he closed what he saw as a loop-hole with (DECREE NO.
7 OF 2013), the STATE LANDS (AMENDMENT) DECREE 2013.

This very
specifically disallows the process of an indirect swap. It says “any i
Taukei land which is exchanged for portions of State land under
subsection (3) must not be exchanged for portions of private freehold
land under subsection (4).”

If the indirect swap process was not permitted, why did Sayed-Khaiyum need to issue a decree to ban it?

But
let’s not lose sight of what’s important here. Sayed-Khaiyum thought he
could take advantage of the confusion and pose as a protector of Native
land. And why did he want to do this? Because he knows that once
everybody understands that he’s removed all past Constitutional
protections of Fijian land he will be the focus of a lot of anger.

As
to whether the landowners at Momi got a fair deal, I don’t know and
it’s clear there’s a lot of guessing and gossip going on here.

What
I do know is that the Bainimarama constitution removes ALL the past
protections for Fijian land. Any law on land can be passed with a simple
majority. But that’s really no surprise because the key laws covering
land have already been swept away by the Land Use Decree, which
over-rides the Native Lands Trust Act and ALTA. (The first was designed
to protect landowners, the second to protect tenants.)

The Land
Use Decree 2010 gives the Prime Minister complete discretion to issue
leases of up to 99 years with whatever rents or other conditions he
chooses. Under the Land Use Decree 2010 he is required to consider the
best interests of the landowners but he must also give equal weight to
“the overall wellbeing of the economy.”It is crystal clear. “All
leases issued or renewed under this Decree shall take into
consideration at all times the best interest of the land owners and the
overall wellbeing of the economy.”

The Land Use Decree also
requires that “all land available are leased with the purpose of
providing a livelihood for all parties concerned”. What does that mean?
Tenant’s rights? Take this in conjunction with “socio-economic” rights
in the constitution and it looks like the ASK plan is to create rights
for landless people to claim unused Native land, or to have existing
leases extended. And remember, the PM’s decisions under the decree
cannot be challenged in court. All power to Bainimarama.

This is
typical ASK – sneaky and too clever by half. It’s why the constitution
had to be rushed through. It’s also why we haven’t heard any details
about decisions made by Bainimarama under the Land Use Decree. But ASK
is making a mistake if he assumes we are all too stupid to notice the
sweeping powers of the Land Use Decree and the removal of all protection
of Native land under the draft constitution.

Does Bainimarama
have any understanding of what ASK has in mind? Who knows? We can be
sure Bainimarama hasn’t read any of the legislation or the draft
constitution, but ASK may have told Bainimarama it’s worth trying get
these powers over Native land in his hands, as that will be his means of
building power.

But this is a very high risk strategy. Once the
grab for total power over land is understood by landowners and their
family members in the military Bainimarama will be in trouble.

(For a legal analysis and more evidence on how the Bainimarama Dictatorship lied about this transaction log on:FijiLeaks.com)

About Me

I am an internet entrepreneur and blogger born on Yacata island in Fiji where I had primary and secondary school before attending universities in Fiji and New Zealand then working as a consultant and in government. I regularly visit my home island in Fiji to contribute to its development and have plans to return to Fiji. Married to Sala and have 3 children.